Technological advances have changed the way individuals live and interact with each other. Although many people seem to appreciate current technology that was not available before, some individuals are able to find flaws in newer technology. According to some, such as the essayist Jonathan Franzen, technology has had a negative impact on the way people in a society behave towards each other. Franzen shares many opinions on various topics in Farther Away; however, he delves into the topic of technology and its shortcomings in two separate essays, both of which are included in the book. In the book, Franzen reveals his reasoning for how and why technological advances, such as cell phones and social media, have clouded society's behaviors and interactions toward others. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first essay, “Pain Won’t Kill You,” which also begins with the book, discusses fake relationships and the need for sympathy and acceptance that has all been created and emphasized by social media. Franzen argues that realistically one person cannot like everything about another individual; however, one person may love bits and pieces of everything the other person has to offer. “There is no person whose true self you like every particle of. This is why a world of sympathy is ultimately a lie. But there is a person whose true self you love every particle of. And this is why love represents an existential threat to the technoconsumer order: it exposes the lie. Franzen's point here is that the person you show yourself to be on social media sites, like Facebook, is not your true self. Users of Facebook (and sites similar to Facebook) feel the need to constantly behave like someone they are not in order to appear more palatable to other users. This becomes a problem because people end up fixated and obsessed with virtual reality. Individuals will continue to need to maintain a facade online to keep their friendly personalities alive. “Our lives seem so much more interesting when filtered through Facebook's sexy interface. We act in our films, we photograph ourselves incessantly, we click with the mouse and a machine confirms our sense of mastery... We like the mirror and the mirror likes us. Befriending a person simply means including them in our private hall of flattering mirrors. By this, Franzen means that people only reveal what makes them beautiful in order to deceive others into liking them; However, deceiving others into liking your person or your fake virtual life will not give that person any satisfaction in the long run because they do not experience authentic love. They are simply liking the fake version of someone and not the real person they would see in reality. This type of situation makes people forget what it's like to experience real, raw love in the real-life world. “Sooner or later, for example, you will find yourself in a scary, screaming fight, and you will hear things come out of your mouth that you yourself don't like at all, things that shatter your self-image.” as a fair, kind, nice, attractive, controlled, funny and nice person. Something more real than sympathy has emerged in you and suddenly you have a real life. Suddenly there is a real choice to be made, not a false choice on the part of the consumer. In this passage, Franzen explains to the audience that there will be a point in time where an individual can no longer maintain their likable personality and will eventually expose their true self and return to reality. Any individual who facesall of these issues just so you can seem nicer on social media is essentially prevented from being able to experience true love and friendship in the real world, which is why Franzen believes social media has negatively changed the way society thinks and acts when it has to do with others. Franzen's second essay discussing the negative factors of technology, "I Just Called to Say I Love You," goes into detail about how cell phones negatively affect people, especially when they are in public or crowded spaces. Franzen believes that cell phones are an invasion of privacy because they allow people to have private conversations in public places, while being surrounded by random people. “I just don't want, while I'm buying socks at the Gap, or standing in a ticket line chasing my private thoughts, or trying to read a novel on a boarding plane, to be drawn in my imagination into the sticky world of some neighbor. the domestic life of the human being. The very essence of the horror of the cell phone, as a social phenomenon – the bad news that remains bad news – is that it allows and encourages the imposition of the personal and the individual on the public and community. I just don't want, while I'm buying socks at the Gap, or standing in a ticket line chasing my private thoughts, or trying to read a novel on a boarding plane, to be imaginatively drawn into the sticky world of some human being. nearby. being is domestic life. The very essence of the horror of the cell phone, as a social phenomenon – the bad news that remains bad news – is that it allows and encourages the imposition of the personal and the individual on the public and community. He explains that while he is out in public, trying to enjoy his book or just running errands, he hears conversations that he feels like he shouldn't be hearing in the first place, because typically the things others are saying around him are conversations or information that should be treated privately between the two people talking to each other on the phone. Franzen does not want to come into contact with the personal lives of those around him, whom he probably does not even know. While privacy is not the only negative aspect associated with cell phone use, there is also the loss of meaning of words and phrases, which Franzen notes in the same essay: “But the phrase “I love you” is too important and loaded , and its use as a conclusion is too knowing, for me to believe that they made me feel accidentally. If the mother's declaration of love had genuine and private emotional weight, wouldn't she at least take some care to preserve it from public hearing? If he was saying it from the bottom of his heart, shouldn't he have said it softly? Listening to it, as an outsider, I have the feeling of being part of an aggressive assertion of right. Franzen believes that when phrases that should be said with sincerity, such as "I love you", are said in public, the authenticity of the phrase is lost and the phrase simply loses all its meaning. He also believes that it is such a common practice in our society to say "I love you" to everyone on the phone in public that people don't really mean it, they just say it because it has become a habit, just like how we say "goodbye" at the end of a phone call. This type of event also puts Franzen, or the individual who is in public, in an embarrassing position because he is witnessing a very sentimental exchange of words when he did not ask to be put in this type of position, which ends up putting all individuals in a rather unpleasant situation. Please note: this is just an example. 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